Link-O-Rama: Pudge's uphill climb to 3,000 hits

* Ivan Rodriguez is "on a mission" to get 3,000 hits, but the odds are against him. He's hitting a career-low .249 and still needs 342 hits, so given his production over the past three seasons Rodriguez likely needs to play in at least another 350-375 games even if he avoids any further decline.

In other words, he'll likely have to keep playing through the age of 40 while somehow convincing teams to give him starting jobs for 2010, 2011, and 2012. All of which is why there are zero catchers in the 3,000-hit club and Rodriguez is already the position's all-time leader with "only" 2,658.

* Ozzie Guillen explained yesterday that, unlike Lou Piniella, he's never tried marijuana. "I never did because I'm so crazy [that if] I might do that, I might be in jail already," Guillen said. "A lot of people think I'm on the stuff."

* Bronson Arroyo is considering offseason wrist surgery in order "to resume his recreational passion of playing the guitar." Meanwhile, there's speculation that Eddie Van Halen may go under the knife to improve his curveball.

* With impending free agent Adrian Beltre set to undergo shoulder surgery that could knock him out for the season, Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner looks back at his ultimately underappreciated time in Seattle.

* Individual win-loss records are often so misleading that they become meaningless, but Shairon Martis is 5-3 this season while the rest of the Nationals are 17-48. So naturally he was dumped from the rotation and sent back to the minors yesterday.